Rochester, NY - Senior Al Catano (Ronkonkoma, NY) became the first Clarkson University Swimming team member to win an event at the Liberty League Championships, claiming the top spot in the 200 individual medley, but not to be outdone was freshman Abigail Sullivan (Canandaigua, NY), who broke a school-record in the same event, highlighting the Golden Knights' performance on the opening day of the conference championships held at the University of Rochester.

The Golden Knights' men sit in fourth place among nine teams through the first 10 events with 231 points, trailing Rochester (573), Rensselaer (456), RIT (271.5), but leading Union (227), Vassar (172), Skidmore (141.5), St. Lawrence (112), and Bard (64). On the women's side, the Knights are currently in ninth place out of 10 squads with 90 points, ahead of Bard (12), but behind Rochester (535.5), Rensselaer (442), Union (261), St. Lawrence (220), William Smith (220), Vassar (183.5), Skidmore (177), and RIT (133).

Catano paced the field in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:56.80, nearly two seconds faster than his seed time and 3.19 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher in the event. Joining Catano in the scoring column for Clarkson were Jon Ketcham (East Aurora, NY), who placed 15th in 2:04.66, Tyler Nichols (Spencerport, NY), who came in 18th in 2:07.10, and Nick Short (Endwell, NY), who took 21st place in 2:08.45. On the women's side, Sullivan came in ninth place in the 200 individual medley, but was able to shave .11 seconds off the previous program standard established nearly 10 years ago by Jen Faucett (February 2005), finishing in 2:16.58.

Clarkson started the day with the 200 freestyle relay events as the team of Sullivan, Tiffany Catano (Ronkonkoma, NY), Sarah Halstead (Milford, NH) and Kelly Ludeke (Burnt Hills, NY) came in 13th in 1:47.36. The men's steam of Chris Bay (Greene, NY), Ketcham, Nikos Moisidis (Watervliet, NY) and Al Catano came in fourth in 1:28.35. Ludeke then swam in the 500 freestyle and finished as the top performer for the Knights in 30th overall in 5:48.98, while Sam Zwierzchowski (East Amherst, NY) took 19th in 5:12.66 and James Baldwin (Incline Village, NV) placed 22nd in the same event on the men's side. Later in the 50 freestyle, Ludeke took 32nd in 27.12 seconds as Clarkson's top performer, while the men had a pair of swimmers inside the top 20, led by Chris Bay in 10th place with a time of 22.31 seconds and Moisidis taking 19th in 22.94 seconds. The day concluded for Clarkson with the 400 medley relay, with the women coming in 13th once again in 4:22.85 led by Tiffany Catano, Sullivan, Kayla Weckesser (Rhinebeck, NY) and Ludeke, and the men placing third overall in 3:36.80 with a team of Al Catano, Ketcham, Short and Bay.

Saturday will conclude the championships, but the day will be split into two sessions.